Refrigerator.



Patented 1an. 30, |900.

J. w. HEATQN. REFBlGERATOR.

(Application filed Oct. 25, 1898.)

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lllllllllIl//l/l//L INVENTOR Nm 642m?. Patented lan. 30, |900.

J. W. HEATN.

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(Application filed Oct. 25, 1808.) (Nu Mariel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

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/l TORNEY 1 Srafrns PATENT OFFICE.

.'lOllN XV. HEATON, OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE.

REFRIGERTOR.

SPEGIIISICJZ-l.'.lllCOIN' forming part of Letters Patent N0. 642,117, dated January 30, 1900. Application filed October 25, 1898. Serial No. 694,512. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN XV. HEATON, a subject of the Queen of England, residing at the city of Chattanooga, in the county of Hamilton and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is a speciiication.

Hy invention relates particularly to refrigerators adapted to receive and preserve various articles of food; and its objects are, among others, to provide a device of this kind with means for quickly and efiicaciously refrigerating the articles placed therein, to prevent the contaminating of certain articles placed therein by vapors and odors arising from others, to effect a material saving in the amount of ice consumed, and to provide proper ventilation and drainage and admit of thevarious parts of the said device being quickly and easily cleansed; and to this end it consists of the combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts in each ligure thereof.

ln the said drawings, Figure I is a vertical longitudinal cross-section of a refrigerator embodying my invention, taken on the line l l of Fig. Il. Fig. Il is a cross-section of the same, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. I. Fig. Ill is a perspective view of the ice-box. Fig. IV is a cross-section of one of the shelves. Fig. V is the same, showing a modication thereof. Fig. VI is a vertical cross-section of the water-trap attached to the bottom of the refrigerator. Fig. VII is a like View of a modification of the trap. Fig. VIII is a perspective view of the drip pan or tray and dependent shields. Fig. IX is a plan view of the shelf shown in Fig. lV.

The exterior of the refrigerator A is composed of wood or other suitable material, having legs A at the bottom, upon which the refrigerator is mounted, and doors or other openings A2 and A3, leading to the ice-box and refrigerating-co1n partment, respectively. The inner casing of the said refrigerator is composed, preferably, of sheet-zinc or other metal, and interposed between the said outer and inner casing is a layer of suitable insu lating substance A,

The ice-box B, composed of zinc or other metal, is situated in the upper part of the re frigerator, but does not come in contact with the same except at the front, opposite the door A2. lt is sustained in position at the back by bolts a, which pass through its rear wall at the top, and at the frontit is sustained by its edges B, which are turned over and provided with a stout rod or wire running around within the said outturned edge, coming in contact with the inner casing of the re frigerator. These ed ges also prevent the box from falling too far backward iu the refrigerator, as well as downward. The box is provided at its top with an opening B2, preferably provided with a lid b', sliding in guides h2, for the purpose of opening and closing the same. At each side of the box and along its lower edge are openings B3, and preferably directly opposite these openings, on the inner side of the box, are slides b4, provided with corresponding openin gs b5, the said slides provided with guides b3. The box is also pro* vided with a small handle b on its outer edge, one at either side, for the purpose of removing the box from the refrigerator.

Directly beneath the ice-box is thc tray C, extending the entire length and width of icebox, but stopping short of back inner case a short distance to allow for rise of warm air, and having vertical shields C attached to either side of the same, extending from front to back of the refrigerator between the said tray and a point near the bottom of the refrigerator. The tray C is inclined from its front to back and from side to side, as is also the ice-box B when in position, and has an opening Cs at its lowest point and directly above the funnel of the drip-pipe D and beneath the opening B4 in the ice-box B. The tray is sustained in position, together with its depending portions or shields C', by bolts a', passing from front to back of the refrigerator, and these shields are prevented from swaying or having any lateral motion by like bolts a2 near their lower edges and the simi* lar bolts a3, which sustain the lower shelf of the refrigerator, the upper shelf being also sustained by like bolts. The lower back edge of the tray C, stopping short ofback of inner box, is turned upwardly, thus forming a glitter IOO C2,alon g which Water from the ice-box will run until it passes intothe funnel D of the drippipe through the opening c. This drip-pipe D leads from the lower corner of the tray C down through the bottom of the refrigerator and has at its lower end a trap E for the purpose of sealing communication'between the interior and exterior of the refrigerator therethrough. This trap consists of the vertical pipe E', secured at its upper end to the inner wall of the refrigerator and receiving at this point the lower end of the drip-pipe and having its lower end fitted with a threaded sleeve to receive the threaded tube in the center of the cap E2. This threaded tube E3 is flared or spread below the portion which tits within the tube E and has its lower edges soldered or otherwise secured to the said cap, being provided with semieircular apertures around its bottom edge where secured to the said cap, the purpose of which is to admit the passage of water therethrough. It will be seen that in this manner air is prevented from entering or escaping from the drip-pipe D, as the outer and lower end of the pipe E is constantly immersed in the water which fills the cap E2 and can only escape therefrom by overflowing its upper edges. The upper end of the drip-pipe D is securedin place by means of a collar d, passing around it near its upper end and secured to the inner wall of the refrigerator, while its lower end is lodged within the upper end of the pipe E' of the trap, being also provided at this point with a washer d', which sustains it in position and also insures a tight joint between the two pipes.

The shelves F of the provision-chamber are constructed in the following manner: The wiremesh F is spread upon a series of stiffening-bars F2, which extend when the shelf is in position in the refrigerator from front to back and are composed of hollow metallic tubes flattened and curled over at either end. Around these ends the edges of the mesh are bent, having astilfening-rollh13 running along the said edges and at right angles to the bars F2, the two forming in cross-section an involute, as shown in Figs. IV and IX. This stiff* ening or strengthening roll inay be either upon the outside or inside of the wire mesh,

the latter Vconstruction being shown in FigV.

At the top and back of the refrigerator is located a tube G, leading from the interior to the exterior and having a cap G at its outer end for the purpose of opening or closing the same. The object of this tube is to admit the escape of air or vapor through the top of the vbox when desired, and thus carry off odors which are not readily obliterated by condensation.

The ice-box is provided with a false bottom B6, of sheet metal, having strips or ridges B5 at sides and back on its upper side, which prevents the block of ice from coming in contact with the walls of the box, and thus insure a layer of non-conducting air around the said ice.

The operation of this device is as follows: When ice is placed in the ice-box, the air around the same becoming cooled will pass outwardlyand downwardly through the opening B3 at either side of the said box, down through the cold-air fines at either side of the refrigerator, formed by the shields C and the inner wall of the refrigerator, to the bottom of the same, where it will displace the warmer air and force it upward through the space at the back of the ice-box to the space above the same, where it will become cooled by proximity to the ice and falling, because of its lowered temperature, through the opening B2 in the top of said box and around the sides of the ice therein, becoming cooler and purer as it doesso, will pass out again through the openings B3 to the lower part of the refrigerator. In this manner a complete circulation of air takes place, the cold pure air constantly falling to the bottom through the cold-air flues at either side and rising therefrom as it becomes heated and vitiated through the interior or refrigerat-ing chamber, and thence through the passage at back of 'ice-box to the top, being of icourse accelerated by the heat or warm vapors arising from articles placed Within this provision-chalnber to be refrigerated. I havepreferably provided the openings in icebox with slides or dampers in order that they may be partly or entirely closed, and thus the supply of cold air to the lower part of the refrigerator and consequent consumption of ice materially lessened when climatic conditions will admit. When the said openings are closed, a modified circulation still takes place within the refrigerator, the air passing downwardly at the sides of the ice-box as it becomes cooled through contact with the same instead of passing through the interior thereof.

It will be seen that the ice-box does not come in contact with the tray or pan C, but has a considerable space of air between its bottom and the said pan. This admits of the pan or tray being maintained at a considerably higher temperature than that of the icebox, and thus prevents the said tray from cooling the air in the upper part of the refrigerating-chamber and interfering with the circulation. The shield O at the lower side of the pan extending upwardly above the same a short distance to a point a little above the bottom of the ice-box acts as a gutter along the side of said tray leading to the gutter C?a at the back.

l. In a refrigerator the combination of a f backwardly-inclined ice-box supported at its front, open end by turned-over edges and having openings for the admission and exit of air communicating with the interior of the refrigerator through dampers at top and lower part respectively, and an air-channel, at both sides of the .said refrigerator, leading from said openings in the lower part of ice-box to the lower part of the refrigerator, and an air-A ICO IIO

channel, at back of said ice-box, leading from the lower part of said refrigerator to a space above the said ice-box.

2. In a refrigerator the combination of a backwardly-inclined icebox supported at its front, open end by turnedbver edges and surrounded upon live sides by air-spaces and having openings for the admission of airand exit of the same communicating with the interior of the refrigerator through dampers at its upper and lower part respectively, and an air-channel, at two sides of the said refrigerator, leading from said openings in the lower part of the ice-box to the lower part of the refrigerator, and an air-channel, at back of said ice-box, leading from the lower part of said refrigerator toa space above the said icebox, and a tube having a cap thereon leading from said space to the exterior.

3. In a refrigerator the combination of a backwardly-inclined ice-box supported at its front, open end by turned-over edges and located in the upper part of the saine and having air-spaces at 'five sides and openings at its upper and lower part communicating with the interior of the refrigerator through dampers, preferably controlled by dam pers, for the admission and exit of air respectively, and an airchannel, at two sides of the said refriger ator, leading from the said openings in the lower part of the ice-box to the lower part of the refrigerator, and an air-channel, at back of said ice-box leading from the lower part of said refrigerator to a space above the said ice-box.

et. In a refrigerator the combination of a backwardly-inclined ice-box supported at its front, open end by tnrned-over edges and having upward projections adapted to come in cont-act with the ice upon the upper side of its false bottoni parallel to its four sides and openings for the admission and exit of air at top and sides, and air-channels leading from said openings to the lower part of the refrigerator.

5. In a refrigerator the combination of a backwardly-inclined ice-box supported at its front, open end by turnedbver edges and in the upper partthereof, and shelves in the lower part, composed of intersecting wires forming a fabric having two of its parallel edges inturned and strips of metal running along the said inturned edges to forma helix conforming to the shape of same, and rods running across said fabric at right angles to said inturned edges and having their ends inturned to conform to the shape of said edges.

6. In a refrigerator the combination of a backwardly-inclined ice-box supported at its front, open end by turnedover edges and at the upper part of same, having openings therein, and a tray, situ ated directly beneath said ice-box, having an opening leading to a vertical drip-pipe, and a trap communicating between the said drip-pipe and the exterior of the refrigerator; said trap being provided with a cap having a central tube which is screw-tapped into the tube leading to the said drip-pipe.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 21st day of September, 1898, at thc city of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

JOHN W. HEATON.

Witnesses:

S. I. HOGAN, C. P. BENTLEY. 

